World Energy to develop new SAF hub in Texas

World Energy, a carbon-net-zero solutions provider, on Aug. 18 announced it is launching advanced engineering plans to convert its existing assets in Houston to launch a new sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) hub that will enable the company to produce another 250 million gallons of SAF annually by 2025. On Earth Day, the company announced plans to produce 250 million gallons of SAF annually by 2024 at its Paramount, California, site in response to the growing demand for net-zero carbon aviation.  Production in Houston will nearly double the company’s volume capacity by 2025, making the low-carbon fuel available to most U.S. and many global markets for the first time. The move will also get the company more than halfway to meeting its commitment to produce one billion gallons of SAF by 2030, five years ahead of that goal.

World Energy’s current biofuel facilities, acquired in 2016, are located on the Houston Ship Channel at mile zero of all major U.S. pipelines, with direct deep water access at the heart of the U.S. energy production and distribution complex, and directly connected to two local international airports.

“Houston is the logical choice for World Energy’s Aviation Zero plant two,” said Gene Gebolys, CEO, World Energy. “Not only does our positioning here provide unparalleled finished product access but provides tremendous access to global feedstocks, emerging sources of low-carbon hydrogen, and even access to captured carbon to advance commercialization of innovative new processes for the production of SAF. We’ve been operating here in various capacities nearly two decades and we recognize why Houston is the beating heart of America’s energy complex.” 

World Energy operates the world’s first and still America’s only SAF plant in Los Angeles where the company is in the midst of a $2 billion expansion project to boost capacity to 375 million gallons of renewable fuels to decarbonize road, rail, water, and air transport.  Amazon Air, United, JetBlue, Rolls-Royce, and Boeing are among many current partners using SAF to advance low-carbon air travel and to accelerate the drive to large scale aviation decarbonization.